Application of ionizing radiation for increasing of microbiological safety and shelf life of cultivated garden berries

Abstract

Healthy nutrition must include fresh fruit and vegetable products containing several nutrients, which are necessary to healthy human body maintaining. Healthy foods, such as fresh cultivated berries, can have dangerous levels of microbiological contamination after their harvesting. There are several methods, including various types of ionizing radiation, which can achieve the safety of plant raw materials safety without damaging their native structure. Thus, environmentally friendly ionizing β-radiation was used in our experiments. Freshly cultivated garden berries were packed into plastic bags and sealed in a vacuum packaging machine in a passive mode. Then packed samples were processed with ionizing radiation with a dose from 1 to 3 kGy. After irradiation, the samples were stored for 21 days at 4 ºC. The optimal radiation doses were established for all studied types of cultivated garden berries for increasing their microbiological safety and extend their shelf life. During the experiment, an organoleptic assessment of irradiated berries was carried out in comparison with control samples. It is established that ionizing radiation is an effective way to reduce contamination of berries with pathogenic microorganisms. The research results can be applied for practical purposes to increase the quality and safety of fresh products of plant origin.